Commentary - Genesis 15:1-6

Bird's-eye view

In Genesis 15:1-6, we come to one of the most pivotal moments in redemptive history. Following Abram's military victory and his refusal to take spoils from the king of Sodom, God appears to him in a vision. This is not a conversation out of the blue; it is a divine reassurance after a significant act of faith. God promises to be Abram's shield and exceedingly great reward. But Abram, in a moment of profound and honest faith, questions the nature of this reward, given his childlessness. God answers not with a rebuke, but with a staggering clarification of His promise: an heir from Abram's own body, and descendants as numerous as the stars. The climax of this encounter is verse 6, where Abram believes God, and this belief is credited to him as righteousness. This is the gospel preached to Abraham, the very heart of justification by faith alone, laid out for us in the first book of the Bible.

Outline

Context In Genesis

This chapter follows directly on the heels of Abram's triumph over the Mesopotamian kings in chapter 14. In that account, Abram demonstrated his trust in God by refusing the riches of Sodom, declaring that he would not let a pagan king make him rich. He looked to God alone as his provider. It is in this context of demonstrated faithfulness that God comes to him and says, "I am...Your reward." God is affirming Abram's choice. Furthermore, this chapter provides the foundational basis for the formal covenant-cutting ceremony that follows in the second half of Genesis 15. The declaration of justification by faith in verse 6 is the legal and relational ground upon which the covenant is then sealed.

Verse by Verse Commentary

Genesis 15:1

After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.”

The phrase "After these things" connects us directly to the events of chapter 14. Abram has just made himself a powerful enemy by defeating Chedorlaomer's coalition, and he has also publicly snubbed the king of Sodom. He is politically isolated and vulnerable. So God's first words to him are "Do not fear." This is the constant refrain of God to His people when He is about to do something far beyond their abilities. God then identifies Himself in two ways: as a "shield" and as a "reward." The shield addresses Abram's immediate vulnerability. God is his defense. The reward addresses Abram's refusal of Sodom's wealth. Abram gave up an earthly reward, and God responds by saying, in effect, "You made the right choice. I Myself am your reward, and a very great one." The ultimate reward for the righteous is never a created thing, but God Himself.

Genesis 15:2-3

And Abram said, “O Lord Yahweh, what will You give me, as I go on being childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Since You have given no seed to me, behold, one born in my house is my heir.”

This is not the voice of unbelief, but rather the voice of a faith that is wrestling with God's promise. Abram takes God at His word about a great reward and points out the glaring problem. A great reward, in his ancient Near Eastern context, meant a great name and a lasting legacy, which was impossible without a son. He says, "Lord, what good is all this if it dies with me?" He lays out his human solution: his trusted servant, Eliezer. He is essentially saying, "This is my plan B. Is this what you had in mind?" This is a crucial lesson for us. Honest questions directed to God are a sign of a living faith, not a dead one. Abram is not turning away from God; he is pressing into the promise and asking for clarification.

Genesis 15:4

Then behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, “This one will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.”

God's answer is swift, direct, and leaves no room for doubt. "Not Eliezer." God's plan will not be accomplished through a clever workaround or a pragmatic human arrangement. The promise requires a miracle. The heir must "come forth from your own body." The Hebrew is emphatic, literally "from your own bowels." This is a biological impossibility for a man of Abram's age with a barren wife. But God is locking down the terms of the promise. It must be a true son, a seed, which is a theme that runs right through Scripture, culminating in the ultimate Seed, Jesus Christ, who came from the line of Abraham.

Genesis 15:5

And He brought him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your seed be.”

God does not just give Abram a word; He gives him a picture. He condescends to Abram's weakness and gives him a tangible, visible sign to anchor his faith. He takes him outside, under the vast, clear desert sky, and tells him to count the stars. The task is impossible, which is precisely the point. "Your descendants will be like that, an innumerable multitude." God is painting a picture of the scope of His promise. This is not about a small tribe; this is about a global, cosmic blessing that will fill the earth. This is the postmillennial vision in seed form. All the families of the earth will be blessed through this promised seed.

Genesis 15:6

Then he believed in Yahweh; and He counted it to him as righteousness.

Here we arrive at the pinnacle, the verse that the Apostle Paul builds his entire argument on in Romans 4 and Galatians 3. Faced with his own aged body, his wife's barren womb, and a promise as vast as the heavens, Abram "believed in Yahweh." The Hebrew word for believed is aman, from which we get our word "Amen." It means to lean on, to trust in, to be firm and steadfast upon. Abram stopped leaning on his own understanding and rested the entire weight of his hope on the character and promise of God. And what was God's response? He "counted it to him as righteousness." This is the doctrine of imputation. God did not find righteousness in Abram; He credited righteousness to Abram. It was a legal declaration, a forensic act. Abram's faith was the instrument, the empty hand that received the gift. The ground of his right standing was not his act of believing, but the object of his belief: Yahweh and His promise. This is the gospel. Righteousness is not achieved; it is received by faith alone.

Key Words

Aman, "Believed"

The Hebrew verb aman means to confirm, support, or uphold. In the causative stem used here, it means to regard something as firm, trustworthy, and reliable. It is not mere intellectual assent. It is a radical reliance, a resting of one's full confidence in the object of belief. When Abram "believed," he was saying "Amen" to God's promise, treating it as more real than his own physical circumstances.

Chashab, "Counted"

This word, chashab, is a bookkeeping term. It means to reckon, to impute, to credit to someone's account. It signifies a legal or commercial transaction. God took Abram's faith and credited it on the ledger of his soul under the column of "righteousness." It was a status that was not inherent to Abram but was graciously imputed to him by God.

Tsedaqah, "Righteousness"

Tsedaqah refers to a right standing, a conformity to a standard. In a legal context, it means to be declared "in the right." It is the opposite of being found guilty. For God to count Abram's faith as righteousness means that God declared Abram to be in right standing before Him, not on the basis of Abram's performance, but on the basis of his trust in God's gracious promise.

Application

The account of Abram's faith is not just ancient history; it is the pattern for every believer. We, like Abram, are confronted with promises from God that seem impossible from a human perspective. We are called to look away from our own inadequacy and to look to the stars, to the vastness of God's promise fulfilled in Christ. Our circumstances may scream "impossible," but the Word of God declares "it is finished."

Justification is the central blessing of the gospel, and it is received today in exactly the same way it was received by Abram thousands of years ago: by faith alone. It is not faith plus our efforts. It is not faith that we manage to work up on our own. It is a God-given faith that simply receives the gift of Christ's perfect righteousness. When we believe the gospel, God performs the same accounting miracle for us. He credits the perfect righteousness of His Son to our account, and we are declared righteous in His sight. Our assurance, therefore, does not rest on the quality of our faith but on the quality of our Savior. We look to Christ, the object of our faith, and find our standing there, secure and unshakable.